The Druid's Daughter
by jack-damian
Summary: Anna Llandovery is a druid's daughter, full of magic and hidden in the heart of Camelot. The knights are her friends and Merlin is a new colleague. But the threat against Camelot is ever present and Anna is more central to the thickening plot than she realises...
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first ever Merlin fic. It follows Anna , who's basically a kickass druid girl working with the knights under Gaius. The main people are actually Leon and Gwaine, although Gwaine takes a while to get it. It follows the entire five series' but the first two are a bit jumpy, sorry!**

**Anyway happy reading!**

**Just so we're clear, Merlin is by no means mine**

* * *

I jumped out of my skin when someone knocked on the door.

Gaius hadn't noticed, and if he had he was blatantly ignoring it. He just kept looking for the book I needed. Eventually I heard the door creak open and a young man speaking.

"Hello? Gaius?" he called softly, knowing if the physician was here, he would be heard.

On hearing his name, Gaius finally turned. But the walkway was too narrow for that sort of turn and he ended up leaning backwards against the rails, which were very weak. For a man, Gaius wasn't particularly heavy but that rail was by no means strong.

"Gaius!" I cried in alarm, leaping forward when the rails gave out and he started falling backwards away from me. I didn't get halfway before I felt like I was moving through treacle, rather than air and my skin started tingling. I managed to look up and saw the young man stood by the table, his eyes a rich topaz colour.

Then time returned to normal but Gaius didn't land on the floor. I hadn't noticed but the young man had telekinetically moved Gaius' bed underneath the falling physician so that instead of cracking his head open on the stone floor, he only had the breath knocked out of him.

I raced down the stairs, almost tripped and falling myself, before getting my balance back and helping Gaius to his feet.

"What did you just do?" he asked the young man sharply. Gaius must have been at least sixty but for such an old man he wielded strength and authority and he could make the bravest knight quail and do as he was told. It was a skill I had copied and it came in very useful in my line of work.

The young man stood there awkwardly and attempted to answer the question but Gaius was very impatient.

"Tell me!" he snapped.

"I have no idea what just happened," he stammered. Now he looked nervous, rather than awkward. Now he wasn't performing a spell, I could see his eyes were a strange blue-grey colour that went with his skin tone. He had short dark hair cut like a small boy and his clothes were that of a village lad or a servant.

"Um, Gaius?" I whispered. He turned to me, immediately softening. The old physician had a soft spot for me, it was well-known, and he didn't have it in him to get annoyed at me. "I'm just going to take that book and get back to Leon, if that's okay."

"You won't mention this, will you?" the young man asked quickly. He clearly understood how much danger he was in having magic in Camelot. I just smiled at him.

"That was the first magic I've seen since Uther had my father executed during the Great Purge," I told him quietly. Then I held up my shirt and turned my back so he could see the triskellion tattoo on my spine. "You keep my secret, I'll keep yours," I told me. "Oh, my name's Anna by the way."

"I'm Merlin," he replied and sent me a cheeky smile in return. I picked up the book on broken bones and walked out, thinking I had just made a new friend.

Leon noticed how happy I was when I came back and he frowned. Sir Leon was one of the few people who knew most of my past and he knew I didn't often have reason to smile.

"You'd have thought a good friend wouldn't smile at a broken wrist," he muttered under his breath, which made me laugh.

Leon was only a few years older than me but considered fairly old among the knights, nearly thirty. He had rugged blonde hair and clear blue eyes, a tall frame and a dry sense of humour. He'd been a page when I'd started working with Gaius and the knights and I'd forged a strong friendship with him and a few of the other knights, as well as a serving girl called Gwen, who'd grown up knowing Leon as well.

Today he'd been training with Prince Arthur, a spoilt little boy if there ever was one, and Arthur had swung wrong, his blade glancing off Leon's, down and snapping his wrist. Arthur had just stalked off unhappily, probably because his favourite punch-bag wasn't going to be playing any more. He was that kind of selfish brat, just as bad as his father.

To this day, I don't know why Uther didn't have me burned with my father. Sure, he had no proof that I'd ever used magic but I had a druid's tattoo on my back: that should have assured my guilt.

Maybe he just couldn't bring himself to burn a five-year-old girl. But he could orphan one.

"Don't dwell on the past." Leon's ever-calm voice broke through my reverie and I shook myself, concentrating on sliding the bones back into place. Luckily, there weren't any fragments, a quick silent spell on my part had assured me of that, so he'd been fortunate. In less than ten minutes, his wrist was bandaged securely and he was under doctor's orders to not train for at least a month.

"Not even if Arthur demands it," I added when I spotted his uncertain frown. Leon was essentially a very nice man and he hated making other people cross. In Camelot, he was almost like the second-in-command, which reassured me: the King and the Prince were both incompetent.

"Rather you than me," he replied worriedly. Of course, Arthur would throw a tantrum when Leon had to refuse training and someone would have to explain it to him.

"Ready to go again, Leon?" Just think of the Devil and the Devil shall appear. Or in this case, the Prince of Camelot. Leon just sent me a look and I sighed.

"Sorry, sire, I'm under doctor's orders. No training for me," Leon replied regretfully. Of course, on hearing this, Arthur immediately looked to said doctor for an explanation.

My name is Anna Llandovery and I am a druid's daughter. When I was five, the King had my father burned at the stake for healing a large cut on a man's thigh with magic. He spared me and Gaius took me in as an apprentice of sorts. Now I am the doctor for the knights, primarily because they've learned the hard way not to push me around but also because I work better around blood than vomit. That's Gaius' area of expertise. I just do the large gashes and broken bones.

Such as the one I was about to give the Prince hell for.

"Why can't he just train with his left hand?" he asked arrogantly and I noticed Leon making a 'damn that's a good point' sort of face. Ha, no chance I'm letting this patient back into Arthur's silly inexperienced hands.

"Sire, I'm afraid Sir Leon won't be able to train until the bones are completely healed," I told him, having to make a serious effort to not smack him across the face. Talking to him gave me the sense of talking to a mildly violent brick wall: nothing I said sank in like it would to a regular person. "Any sort of physical activity could jostle the bone and mess up the recovery. So no riding either," I added over my shoulder to said knight, who groaned in general irritation. He knew he had a very boring month to look forward to. When I saw Arthur's semi-thunderous, semi-tantrum face, I knew a quick solution was in order. Why did I have to say what I said though?

"If your Highness wouldn't mind, I could train with you," I offered and immediately regretted saying that. I had no intention of losing but I also knew that beating the Prince would get me shut in the stocks every day for the next fortnight, which was hardly appealing.

It looked like he might refuse though. "A girl can't fight, least of all a girl like you," he told me with a brutish laugh. Leon was frowning at me too, probably wondering why I would make such an offer: he knew the consequences as well as I did. There was a reason his talents were so under-appreciated, considering he always had to lose to Arthur or risk losing his head. I'd seen him fight though and after that, I've always been of the opinion that one Leon is better than ten other knights.

"Then your Highness has no reason to be scared of losing to me," I replied shortly. My frustration levels were at an all time high recently and I really needed to goad Arthur into a good fight, just to let off some steam.

"Anna's right, Sire," Leon added, surprising the both of us. "You've been training since you could walk, whereas all she has to learn from is watching us. She's just a training partner. You've nothing to fear from her."

Clearly, the thought that his knights would think him a coward if he refused was enough to convince Arthur that using me as a replacement Leon was a good idea. "Find a sword then," he said shortly and I had to hide a grin when I heard a hint of nervousness. Then he strode off to wait for me on the field.

"You can borrow mine, if you like," Leon offered, kicking his sheathed sword, which was lying on the ground at his feet. "I won't have much use for it for a while," he added grumpily. He glared at Arthur's turned back, which surprised me because he was such a mild-mannered gentleman. "I can't believe he has the nerve to talk to you like that. He has no idea how valuable you are. Or how much trouble he's in now," he grumbled, although that last thought cheered him up slightly. He was right though: I might have been five foot seven, so at a serious disadvantage, but I had the strength of a six foot male and had won more than my fair share of tavern brawls, usually courtesy of a drunk Leon, who could get really rowdy when intoxicated.

I helped Leon to his feet and drew his sword. It was a little big for my delicate hands but I was more used to axes as thick as my forearm so a slightly-too-big sword wasn't much of a problem. In actual fact, even though it was a broadsword, I found it easier to use one-handed, which visibly made the Prince nervous. A small crowd had already drifted around to watch and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a slightly out-of-place-looking Merlin. He seemed interested though.

"Ladies first," Arthur said, slightly shakily, making a feeble attempt to taunt me. I shrugged.

"As you wish sire," I replied brightly and swung for his head.

Instantly, I saw why Leon always wore a frown of intense concentration when he practised with the Prince: his footwork and grip were awful! I had make a conscious effort to avoid his large clumsy feet and to parry his off-balance blows, which detracted from how well I could fight back. For a few minutes, it was a vaguely enjoyable mental challenge but after a while, I just wanted a slightly more technical opponent. Arthur had all the grace of a rampaging bull.

I took a sharp step forward and Arthur roared with indignation when I stepped on his foot hard. It was something I'd wanted to do for at least ten years. "Move your feet," I told him, getting a bit exasperated when I did again, this time not on purpose. "I could run circles around you if I wanted to! And you need to hold the blade perpendicular to your body, otherwise you'll break my wrist as well or slice your leg off." When he ignored all my advice and continued to hack at my defence, I lost what little patience I had left and used a little tap-tap-smack combination I'd copied from Leon.

Arthur was on his back in a matter of seconds.

"Before you fight any more of your knights, may I suggest you improve your fighting technique, sire? That way, I might not spend every minute of every day treating broken wrists," I said sweetly before stalking back to Leon, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"Have fun in the stocks tomorrow," he told me, still chuckling. "Uther's going to be fuming when Arthur tells him about you kicking his butt."

"Leon!" I cried in shock. "What happened to your perfect vocabulary?"

"I started spending more time around you than Gaius," he told me simply, eliciting an amused giggle from me.

I spent the rest of the afternoon entertaining the knights with the story of how I'd beaten Arthur's pathetic butt into the ground. It would have come as a surprise to him to realise a lot of his knights didn't really like or respect him that much: they just followed his orders because he was higher up the totem-pole of Camelot than they were. I sparred with a few other knights, dispatching them quickly, although more kindly than I had Arthur. It was coming to early dusk when we saw three figures, two in red and one in dark gold, crossing the practise field.

"Good luck," several voices murmured to me. Because of course the figure in gold was Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot, whose son I'd beaten up earlier in the afternoon. As such, I was probably in quite a bit of trouble.

"Anna Llandovery?" he said, lording it over his knights who didn't think much higher of him than of his son. I just held my head high and stood, inclining my head in as much of a bow as he was going to get from me. "Thank you," he said grudgingly and most of the knights had to hold back a gasp of shock and surprise.

"What for, sire?" I replied, thoroughly confused. "I made your son look like a fool earlier."

"I'm perfectly aware of that, thank you," he said shortly. "But thanks to you, we can do something about my son's sloppy swordsmanship, a problem that might not have come to light otherwise." As I knew quite a bit about Uther Pendragon's mind, what he was saying made sense to me, whereas a lot of the knights looked confused still.

"My pleasure, sire," I replied, sending him what might have been a very risky cocky smile.

He got my hidden meaning, but fortunately he was too grateful to me for saving his son from future embarrassment to call me on it. He just sent us all a very tight smile and left.

We were all sat, or in my case stood, in silence for a few minutes until we were sure the King was out of earshot, then Leon burst out laughing. I slumped down next to where he was lounging on the grass and laughed along with everyone else. We talked for a few more minutes, then the knights had to get ready for the evening feast, which I had already decreed Leon would not be attending. He didn't need that kind of strain on his wrist. Instead, I decreed he would get some sleep, which he went along with quite willingly. Leon was never ever a late-night person unless he was completely hammered, which was a rare occasion to say the least and any excuse to get out of going to the weekly late-night feast was welcomed with open arms.

I sent Sir Ewan, a nice young knight with a lot of potential, to make sure that Uther understood exactly why his favourite knight wasn't attending and then made sure Leon was comfortable. It was that weird kind of friendship between boy and girl that meant we weren't in the least interested in one another but he didn't mind me seeing him in nothing but his shorts as he climbed into bed after a soothing camomile bath. I had to change the bandage while he was resting, humming all the while and when I looked up he was fast asleep.

Not many people know this, but Leon is a really deep sleeper and he likes it. He was so out that I could make him comfortable and he didn't notice at all. Quickly, I cleared up his armour and hung it all up where it was meant to go, then lit a small fire and left him to sleep.

When I got in, Merlin was sat in front of Gaius, the pair having apparently bonded while I was tending to Leon's wrist earlier in the day, and for some reason Gaius was picking lettuce out of the young man's hair.

"First day in Camelot and you wound up in the stocks?" I laughed. Merlin just grimaced and told the whole story. "Yeah, my example is only to be followed if you know you have a lot of skill with a sword or you've been wrestling with knights for fun for most of your teenage slash adult life," I told him lightly. "But the effort's what counts. You did the right thing today, Merlin, and against the biggest prat the Goddess ever blew breath into."

Merlin frowned at me then. "You don't like Arthur then?" he asked me and my 'what do you think' expression told a life story. He laughed and asked a new question. "You still hold to the druid beliefs?" he asked curiously. He leaned forward slightly, I noticed, interest catching him out.

His question made me pause for a moment before I could form a coherent reply. "When you're a druid, or a druid child like me, beliefs seem more like laws of the world, so you don't forget them," I replied slowly, wishing I could follow Leon's example as usually I would have been tucked up in bed by now. "Besides, when you can use magic, the druid beliefs have a lot more relevance." Just to prove my point, I made Merlin out of the watered-down wine in Gaius' cup, which earned me a withering and an admiring audience. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm heading to bed," I told them, before walking off.

"Um, Anna? You're in the other room now," Gaius called after me. I just sighed and went up the other flight of stairs to the room above my old one, which was now Merlin's.

I sensed power in Merlin, power that made me shudder every time I thought about it. And for some reason the name Emrys would not leave my mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Just so everyone's aware, I'm basically making up a timeline that fits remotely with my version of events, so the first four episodes all happen within the space of a month. It's going to turn into a Gwaine fanfic later on but at the moment Leon demands all the attention, just because a) Gwaine isn't here yet and 2) he is technically Anna's best mate.**

**This one's for dragonbook87, who gave me my first ever review on this fanfic. *showers person with love*.**

**In addition, series 1 overall is for MaxR, who literally made me squeal with happiness when I read their review.**

**Enjoy lovely readers and feel free to leave reviews!**

I missed Lady Helen's performance three days later and according to Merlin it was a good thing I had, considering she had attempted to avenge her dead son by taking Uther's. Of course, I'm actually talking about Mary Collins, because she had killed the real Lady Helen. The real reason I was glad I hadn't been there was because I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't have tried to help her.

Instead, I had spent most of the last three days tending Leon, who had picked up some sort of infection and was running a fever on and off. He hadn't been sick, thank goodness, because I don't do vomit, but he'd been too ill to even recognise me. I never actually knew whether he knew it was me but the fact he called me 'mama' whenever I was around persuaded me that he was entirely delirious.

He spent a lot of his time drifting in and out of sleep, alternating between barely sane mutterings and dreamy murmurs. Normally Leon doesn't talk in his sleep but when he does it's obvious as to what he's dreaming about. The fact I heard my own name more than once made me curious about the details of those particular dreams. I decided against asking, considering he probably wouldn't remember a thing when he recovered.

With dutiful attention, I nursed the knight back to some form of health, just in time for Uther to announce that the knights' tournament was starting the next day. That night, Merlin looked absolutely terrified and kind of irritated because the only consequence from saving Arthur's life was that he was now the Royal Manservant, which sounds very undignified but is actually a prominent and surprisingly influential position in the household. When I went to check on Leon the next day, after my first proper nights' sleep in about a week and a half, he didn't look much happier than my new roommate.

"You want to talk?" I asked him, sitting down cross-legged on the bed (unlike most women in the city, I opt for trousers and boots, which I wasn't wearing then, instead of a skirt and light shoes) and taking his good hand in both of mine. He just sighed and looked away, out of the window.

"I remember dreaming of my mother," he said quietly and after a long silence. I just held his hand a little tighter: I knew why his mother was a raw subject for him. She'd been murdered by bandits just before he had become a knight and it was that which had spurred him on, and still did.

Of course, I understood his pain. Gaius was the only parent I'd ever had and, as hard as he'd tried, he'd never really been sufficient. I'd missed my father for all my life and the only person I had to blame was the very man who paid my pittance of a weekly wage.

I'd been prepared for a few things to follow that statement, but not the silent sobbing. Leon was the kind of man who kept his emotions bottled up and only let himself feel them when he was alone, so such a display was unusual from him. But he needed someone so I moved to sit next to him and let him rest his head on my shoulder and cry. It was what he needed and judging from the frequency of the word 'mama' when he'd slept, those dreams had been persistent.

"Thank you," he whispered after quite a few minutes. I just smiled gently and rubbed his shoulder comfortingly, telling him without words that he was worth every effort and that I would always be there for him when he needed me. "You too," he replied softly, resting himself against me so that he was more comfortable. I just giggled.

"More sleep?" I asked him teasingly but he just nodded and passed out without another word. I just sighed and settled him down, leaving him alone to sleep off the last remnants of the fever.

When I got in, it was to hear Merlin complaining to Gaius that Arthur had basically beaten him up in practise today. I giggled and sat him down, getting to work on him like I was used to doing when any of the knights straining or pulled something. It took about a minute to shut Merlin up and within five he was slumped over the table, limp but conscious and very content.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, dragging himself into an upright position and starting on his soup. I sat down opposite and answered by pointing at Gaius. Merlin cocked an eyebrow at the elderly physician, who sighed deeply but not seriously.

"When there's two men going at each other like hammer and tongs, one of them invariably ends up in a similar condition to yours, only much worse," he replied like it was obvious. That was how Gaius often spoke but he wasn't too patronising about it.

"Plus, it's a proven fact that men are more comfortable around a female doctor when they're ill or injured," I added brightly, already halfway through my soup: working with emotional patients always gave me a huge appetite, especially when it was someone as reserved as Leon. "Leon's fever has broken but he's not had the best time of it," I said quickly to Gaius as he sat down next to Merlin with his own soup.

"Family?" he asked me and when I nodded he sighed deeply, this time in pity. I felt exactly the same way.

To my surprise, when I went back the next morning, Leon was sat, in shirt and breeches, on the window seat, watching the other knights train out of the window. He didn't notice me at first but when I cleared my throat he turned, taken by surprise and instinctively reaching for a weapon. He smiled at me but it was a sad smile.

"You wish you were down there?" I asked but we both knew it wasn't really a question.

"I suppose," he replied, which confused me but I decided against pushing him because he didn't look exactly happy.

We watched the day's tournament from Leon's window, commenting on the knights' fighting styles and who won and lost. A knight in yellow caught my attention: he was vicious and violent but from where we were I couldn't tell how accurate his technique was. I watched Arthur's fight closely and I was surprised to see significant improvement.

"Does Arthur always fight as badly as he did against me?" I asked quietly after Arthur beat the hell out of his opponent.

"Not always," Leon replied quietly, focusing on the next pair to be fighting, both unfamiliar to us: it was his way of dealing with the frustration of not being about fight himself. "I think he was testing you, seeing just how good you are. Normally, he's actually not half-bad but he looks better than usual today."

"Maybe Uther's had him taking a crash course," I snickered, thinking of Uther's horror if his son was beaten in front of the entire kingdom. Thinking like that made me frown: Arthur had a surprising amount of pressure on him and I resolved to be slightly nicer in future. Only slightly, mind, at least until his attitude towards those beneath him improved.

When the day's matches were over, we went outside, taking care to avoid the citizens. Most people didn't know it but the knights' training grounds had a small door on the east corner that was never locked and as young teenagers we used to escape that way all the time. It opened directly into the forest and so we were essentially free when we were gone.

In actual fact, we'd first met out here. Leon had been thirteen and had decided climbing a tree to see Camelot would be a good idea, not thinking about how slippery the bark would be after two days of solid rain. He fell from a fair way up but luckily for him I was out collecting herbs and I heard him crying, which can't be blamed when you consider he'd broken a rib and his shoulder. Actually, it was a wonder he hadn't broken his neck.

The second time we'd met had been about a week after the news came that his mother had been killed. That was an interesting day but after that we'd been firm friends.

Leon was the only person besides Gaius who knew I was capable of using magic. He kept it to himself though, knowing that I only ever used it for healing, and even that was a very rare occasion: usually my physician skills served me well enough that I didn't resort to using magic. I was eternally grateful for his silence, knowing if Uther found out Leon had known the knight would be accused of treason. He was risking his head for me but he didn't mind doing it. In turn, I supported him and helped him whenever he needed it. It was a win-win situation, especially considering we enjoyed each other's company.

We down to the river and I amused myself by singing naiad-songs under my breath. Leon didn't notice or if he did he either didn't mind or was too fascinated to protest, because it seemed like all of nature sang with me, which wasn't far off the truth actually. When I finished, he picked up where I left off and sang old nursery rhymes under his breath. Leon is by no means a Lady Helen but he is very good, especially when he sings quietly. He just sounds very melancholy and husky, which is both enchanting and oddly attractive.

"Good evening!" a delighted and surprised feminine voice said. We were both started from our thoughts and looked up to see a long-standing close friend.

Guinevere was a very good friend of mine and Leon's, the lady-in-waiting to Lady Morgana, the king's ward. She had skin the colour of stone in the dark, curly hair like bark and very bright easily read but deep-reading eyes. She was the kind of person who always had a ready smile and there were times when seeing her out and about could brighten up my whole day.

"Evening, Gwen," Leon called as she came down the slope to join, a smile creeping onto his face: clearly this was one of those days that needed brightening. "What are you doing outside of Camelot so late?"

"I could ask you two the same thing," she replied, sitting down inelegantly on Leon's good side, a fact he didn't miss. "But I'm just picking flowers. Morgana gave me the rest of the day off after the tournament was done so I thought coming out here would be a good idea."

I just laughed. "You have more of a reason than we do," I responded, still chuckling. "I think the only reason we're out here is because we've both had a sudden onset of claustrophobia. Personally I just need some thinking space and Leon's hemmed in by his wrist. I don't know about you but there are times when I forget all this even exists." Gwen nodded sympathetically but Leon nodded in upset agreement. He looked like he was close to tears again but luckily Gwen hadn't noticed.

Suddenly, I heard a twig crack and my head shot up. Leon too was scanning the trees, searching for the offending movement. At least it had distracted him from his issues for a few minutes. Then I was ducking because there was a knife flying towards my head. With Gwen so close I didn't dare use magic but I knew I might have to because we were surrounded by ruffians with not a weapon between us.

One of them hauled Leon to his feet, deliberately twisting his broken wrist so that he had to bite down on a cry. Any more and he might pass out from the pain. Another pulled Gwen up and attempted to kiss her, before she slapped him across the jaw. That got her one in return, forcing her into submission. I was pulled up by my hair (which really hurt!) by the one who seemed to be in charge. I didn't struggle too much but I could feel him trying to undo the lace of my corset. Good luck, mate, go any further and you _will_ die. That was my general thought path.

Then the one holding Leon twisted his arm slightly and, unable to bear it, the knight went limp where he stood. At least the guy had the decency to catch him. Gwen looked on, shocked, but I kicked the one holding me between the legs, drew his sword and ran him through. It was the work of half a minute to deal with the others.

"Come, brother," I whispered to the curious fox peeking round a tree at the commotion. "Dinner time." Gwen just looked shocked still but I ran to Leon, who wasn't coming round anytime soon. As such, I just sighed, picked him up in my arms and indicated that Gwen should lead, which she did with no fuss. That probably had something to do with her state of shock.

Did I mention that?

I could feel the horror I always felt after killing something or someone and I knew I'd be heading straight down to the Rising Sun when I was finished tending to Leon. With his luck, the wrist was probably twice as bad now as it had been before.

We didn't meet anyone besides the Lady Morgana, who'd gotten worried when Gwen hadn't come back when she said she would. She saw me holding Leon, who was limp, frowning and soaked with river-water and sweat and just followed, intending to do whatever she could to help me. It was hardly much but I appreciated the thought. It was easy to make him comfortable but not so easy to heal his wrist. The first twist had pushed the bone out of place and the second had broken the skin, which helped slightly because now I could see exactly what was wrong. Gaius came looking for me after a while and when he saw the state I was in, the look on his face was the one that demanded an explanation.

"Bandits," was all I needed to say and he completely understood. He knew exactly how I dealt with the problem of having killed someone and he just told me to get some air while he finished up with Leon. I was grateful for that: Leon's room was one of the larger ones but it still felt too close in there for me.

Once I was out in the night air, I felt a little better. A brisk walk cleared away the last dregs of the claustrophobia but the feeling of blade through flesh came back stronger than before. Three hours later, I returned almost completely hammered. I didn't slur or walk swerving, I just felt numb. I got in at nearly midnight and fell on my bed, passing out instantly.

The next morning, I woken by very loud noises downstairs. Clutching my pounding head, a good reminder of how drunk I had been the night before, I went downstairs to see what had happened.

What had happened was that someone had beaten the hell out of Sir Ewan. I didn't know him all that well, he was one of the more careful knights who didn't feel the need to sprain something once a fortnight, but I knew him well enough to say that he was a nice, non-confrontational man with a good clean fighting style. I was surprised to see him beaten so soon: he'd been one of the favourites for the final.

"Who was he fighting?" I asked, splashing my face with cold water and a quick spell to alleviate the pounding inside my skull.

"Sir Valiant," Merlin replied, with a suspicious glint in his eye. Which I quickly gained, because he didn't look like he'd been overcome in a duel. In fact, and I was by no means the expert, he looked like he'd been bitten by a snake. How on earth would that have happened?

"Is that the one with the yellow cape and violent fighting style?" I asked curiously. Personally, I wouldn't have thought he would win against someone like Ewan. Merlin just nodded and then Gaius confirmed my thoughts.

"This looks more like a snake bite to me," Gaius told us with an air of confusion about him. "He's displaying all the symptoms but how on earth could he have gotten it in a swordfight?" Then he noticed my frown. "Something wrong, Anna?"

I've been around magic for a very long time: Gaius is a warlock, though not hugely powerful and I of course am magical myself. So I can recognise the signs of magic a mile off and Sir Ewan stank of it: that sweet, cloying scent of pinewood. When I told them, Merlin immediately voiced his own thoughts and I wondered whether that was possible. Naturally, I hadn't attended the welcome banquet the night before, choosing to occupy my time by getting well and truly hammered, but I'd seen the three snakes on Sir Valiant's shield, and that was proof enough to me.

Coward.

I left Gaius and Merlin to bicker over what was to be done and went to see Leon. As I'd thought, he was still firmly unconscious (Gaius had given him some Essence of Belladonna, only diluted enough that he would sleep for about twelve hours) but Gwen was sat by his bedside. When I quietly slipped through the door, she turned, alarmed at first but reassured when she realised who it was.

"He looks bad," she told me quietly but I just smiled.

"He'll be fine within the month," I told her in return, giving Leon's splinted and bandaged wrist a quick examination. "Turns out re-breaking it has actually helped the healing process, there was a fragment of bone lodged in the joint but having his arm twisted yesterday has moved it out of the way. Gaius removed it last night after I left."

"That reminds me, how's the hangover?" I just laughed.

"Gwen, you should know by now, I don't get hangovers!"

"That's only because you drink too much." I just shrugged fair enough.

Leon came round at about lunchtime and he was completely fine, aside from the break. In fact, he was well enough to go down to watch the semi-finals with Gwen. I excused myself, saying I needed to help with Sir Ewan. Leon sent me a 'do-what-you-can' sort of look and I wondered if he was asking me to use magic. Unfortunately on that front, I didn't know any spells to heal a snake bite.

When I got back to Gaius' chambers, I got a shock. Sir Ewan was lying spread-eagled on the bed, with a fresh bite over his chest, deader than a dragon! I just screamed for Gaius, wondering if the snake was still here. There was nothing I could do for Sir Ewan, I could feel death rolling off him in waves. I hadn't had a hangover before but now I felt like I was going to be sick. I didn't know why, I'd seen death plenty of times, but this one just sickened me.

Maybe it was because magic was involved.

So the cheating Sir Valiant was going to fight Arthur in the final tomorrow morning. After the improvement in Arthur's fighting, I was sure, under fair conditions, he could win. But my certainty didn't extend to magic-wielding opponents.

I didn't question it when Merlin brought a stone dog to his – my old – room just before dusk. I had learned over the past few days that he normally had a reason behind what he did. What this action did was remind me that I needed to give Leon a sleeping draught, just so that he didn't roll onto his wrist during a dream and make it even worse. Once that was done and Leon was out like a candle, I went to bed.

The stress of yesterday and the feeling of killing three to be honest defenceless men made me stay in bed the next morning and for some reason Gaius didn't come and get me up. I wondered if he thought I'd gone out. I stayed in bed until past lunchtime, at which point Merlin replied, joyous at Arthur's victory. From his excited near-shouts as he talked to Gaius I gathered he had somehow exposed Valiant as a cheat and that Arthur had subsequently kicked his ass.

Good.

I went down to the training field and found Leon, Arthur fresh from his victory and a group of admiring knights. When the Prince saw who Leon was waving at, he actually smiled at me, which made me wonder whether he was still high from winning or whether some of those blows had made him forget how I'd defeated him. I didn't really care: I could do with some cheering up, seeing as I was kind of blue today for some reason.

Instantly I was sat down and treated to a blow-by-blow account of Arthur's match. There was a moment of silence for Sir Ewan and Arthur even recited a prayer of mourning, talking about how a good promising young man with so much to live for had been taken before his time. Despite my general dislike of the Pendragons, I found myself agreeing with every word he said.

**Chapter Two, there we go. Sorry there isn't much show content, the next chapter will have a bit more. And for those of you thinking Leon's getting beaten up far too frequently, don't worry, he doesn't catch the plague thingy. **

**I plan to have one chapter for every episode, but that doesn't account for bits I add in, of which there will be many.**

**Happy reading and reviews please!**

**jack-damian**


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh God I'm so sorry this has taken so long. Unfortunately updates are probably going to get slower: I've just entered 'the final countdown!' as my school insists on calling it, which basically mean I have about ten week before my exams start and what little time I have is devoted to revision. But Anna shall not be forgotten.**

**On a happier note - Over 400 reads! *jumps up and down happily* This is a very very VERY late Christmas present for dragonbook87 and MaxR, who are both continuing to love and encourage this fic!**

**Enjoy lovely readers and feel free to leave reviews!**

Getting up a few days later seemed like a huge effort to me and so I just flopped back into bed. I couldn't deny that I was a tad confused though: Gaius only let me sleep in if I had a hangover, seeing as he knew not to annoy me when I had a hangover.

I was thoroughly woken, however, when a very excitable but pale young warlock burst through my bedroom door and immediately banged his shins on the end of my bed, catapulting him forwards and onto my stomach. That knocked the wind out of me and woke me up sufficiently as well.

Then I looked down and realised Merlin was lying on top of me still.

"Well," I said quickly, recovering from the surprisingly heavy young man crushing my ribs. "This is awkward. Merlin, get _off_ me!" With that, I pushed him off my bed and got up, watching Merlin blush when he realised all I was wearing was a shirt I'd stolen off Arthur some years ago. He didn't know that though, and considering Arthur is a good four inches taller than me, I was fairly decent.

"Gaius wants you to come and help with a diagnosis. When you're dressed of course," Merlin added sheepishly. Then he made a quick escape with my amused eyes following his route. Then I rolled said amused eyes and got dressed.

The patient was less of a patient, more a corpse. I'd seen the middle-aged man around town a few times but I didn't know his name. What I did know was that his face should _not _have been blue!

"What do we know?" I asked Gaius, coming to stand near him. His bleak expression told me exactly how much we knew.

Fuck all. Damn it.

I spent most of the day running from sick person to sick person, unable to do anything but ease their passing, because even with magic I couldn't cure the bloody sickness. It was magic-based, I had that much knowledge but the magic and death combined had a habit of making me want to throw up. That was not a good habit for a healer to have.

Three knights were already dead and dying and I kept an eye on all of them that afternoon, in particular one accident/near-death-experience prone, already injured knight. We didn't know exactly how this illness spread but if it was some kind of infection, I would kill someone if Leon, on top of everything else, managed to get himself sick.

None of ones who weren't sick showed any sign of being sick when I left them to their evening meal but the next morning two more were ill and the two knights who had been sick yesterday had died during the night, heavily sedated because that was all I could do for them. At least Leon seemed to be holding up well.

The same could not be said for the rest of Camelot. The epidemic had only begun yesterday, when the blue-faced middle-aged man had been brought in but on top of the three knights, there were two courtiers and twelve people from the lower town dead, four of them tiny children. Merlin looked about as sick as I felt when he wrapped them in cold white linen and laid them out in the courtyard.

At least it was contained to the city.

But this epidemic was puzzling Gaius: he couldn't find anything wrong with the food and none of the patients he'd examined were infected with anything. They had gotten sick of their own volition and died.

Which should have been impossible.

But all seventeen bodies the next morning stank of death and magic, so realistically anything was possible.

I didn't get a chance to visit the knights' training ground the next day. Unfortunately I was too busy attending a meeting with Gaius and sedating all the people who were surely going to die. I only told them that if they saw through my initial lie and I let them say goodbye and I apologised for not being able to save them. Twenty one people I visited on the second day, seven of them children younger than fifteen. I refused to tell them they would die, instead reassuring them that they just had to sleep for a little while so they weren't hurting while we found the cure. Then their parents promised to stay with them while they were sleeping. Once they were, the parents cried. More often than not, I joined them.

Because all twenty one were dead the next morning.

There were about two hundred knights in Camelot's elite army. Already five of them were dead and three more were sick. This was only day three and we were no closer to finding a cure. With the knights, the illness seemed to follow a bit more order, going mainly for the oldest, the ones who would have died soon in battle anyway. It still seemed like a waste to me because these were wise men with teachings to be passed on even if they weren't fit for active service.

By the end of the third day and the body count was over fifty, I was dead on my feet from mental, physical and emotional exhaustion. I'd seen too many people die in the past few days and it was starting to wear on me.

Getting back to Gaius' quarters didn't help the headache because Merlin was shouting about how he should use his magic to heal people because that was the right thing to do. From listening to their argument in between small sips of water, I discovered that Gwen's father had fallen ill as well.

"And if you tried to help, Merlin?" I said quietly, making them both start. Apparently I had been invisible until that moment. "If Gwen's father survives when no-one else has, Uther will get suspicious, because that's how he always gets. He'll immediately assume that Gwen is a witch who unleashed the epidemic but saves her own father when her plan backfires. Then he'll lock her up, have her executed but the plague will carry on because she has nothing to do with it." I scrubbed my gritty eyes, having some more water: I'd developed a very irritating sore throat over the past few hours. "Besides I've already tried using magic. Fat lot of good that did, it just made the poor man worse. However if you think this blasted poultice will do any semblance of good, then go ahead and try because to be honest, I'm about willing to accept anything at the moment. Gaius, I'm going to go down to Gwen's. She'll need someone tonight."

"Be back before dark, Anna," he called as I was on my way out. "The guards will catch anyone they find tonight and Uther apparently wasn't gentle with the man they found last night."

"When is he ever?" I muttered as I ran down to the lower town, lost in memories of a pleading man, a crying girl, a confused but arrogant boy and a tyrant standing over them all. Then came the fire and twenty years was not enough time for the healing to have finished.

Nowhere near enough time.

To my surprise, Leon was already there, even though I had used my superior power as doctor to forbid him from doing anything taxing. But he looked so honestly sad for our friend that I decided I wouldn't call him on it. I had a magical plague to get through: I didn't fancy warring with Leon's highly developed sense of justice as well because that battle I was not going to win.

Fortunately for everyone, Gwen's father didn't wake while we were there because I didn't want to have to sedate him in front of her. She spent most of the time we were there with her head on my shoulder, Leon stroking her hair and her hands holding her father's. It had to be said in my mind, the poor man looked like hell.

Eventually, Gwen fell asleep and I carefully laid her down close to her father. It occurred to me then that I'd never found out his name. I knew her brother Elyan and her mother Angelina but I'd just never found out her father's name. Leon patted her hair once then used me as a balance as he picked himself up and locked her door behind us.

I don't think Leon noticed Merlin but I did. He didn't notice us either. I wondered whether he had actually considered the consequences of what he was about to do but I had warned him: if things turned out crap, it was on his head.

Or on Gwen's, more likely.

As predicted, Leon had managed to completely exhaust himself trying to help the people around him, which didn't surprise me. Sometimes I was glad he was a knight and not a healer because then I'd have a real case of sleep deprivation on my hands, and frequently too. He was swaying on his feet as we climbed the stairs and I almost carried him the last few corridors. Luckily, he wasn't wearing much more than what he wore to sleep in anyway, so there was very little I had to do in the way of undressing, thank goodness because we weren't quite that close. He had fallen asleep by the time I was ready to leave, so I gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead, wished him sweet dreams in the Old Tongue and left for bed.

* * *

The next morning when I woke up, I felt like I'd been dragged through a river by my hair: my skull ached and I was soaked in my own sweat. Being a healer first, I could immediately tell I was fevered, at least mildly, which conveniently was one of the symptoms of this mystery disease. God, I hoped I wasn't getting sick because a) there was as of yet no cure and b) it left Gaius run ragged with (maybe) me and the rest of the sick. My stomach rebelled but I managed to keep down the food I'd had last night.

Gaius and Merlin weren't up yet, surprisingly, so I quickly found the little mirror Gaius used for checking peoples' breathing and checked myself over. To be honest, aside from looking insanely pale and my eyes being bloodshot from tiredness, I didn't look all that bad. Absently, I picked up a cup and filled it with water, hoping a drink would ease my dry throat. I frowned momentarily: the water tasted a little earthy, though it was yesterday's water, so I couldn't expect much more.

Neither of my fellow healers called me on my dreadful appearance: they were both equally stressed and upset. By lunchtime, Merlin was significantly worse because I'd been right.

Uther had gotten suspicious of Gwen's father's miracle recovery and had discovered Merlin's poultice, naturally blaming it on Gwen. She was currently residing in the castle's dungeon, awaiting her death. I managed to hold back on the 'I told you so' but only just. That boy's reluctance to listen to anyone but himself had cost my close friend her life. The only reason I didn't give him hell was because he seemed genuinely upset.

Once this was over and I had no reason to be sensitive, I intended to give that arrogant, immature warlock a piece of my mind! Which could be very painful. He might be powerful but I was a druid and a trained druid at that.

While Gaius and Merlin took a much-needed lunch break, I went down to see Gwen. It was a tearful encounter to say the least and I came away from that hour feeling worse than I had when I'd woken up. The boys didn't disturb me when I asked for just a few hours to myself and I'm grateful. If it had been Gaius to interrupt, I probably would have just yelled. If it had been Merlin, I might have castrated him. With a bread knife.

Gwen was a beautiful young woman, loyal to a pinch and sweet as a strawberry. There was no malice in her at all: she didn't deserve this fate, not at all. She'd been a very good friend through thick and thin: I'd been there when her brother had left and her mother died and when Leon needed comforting and congratulating. I'd given her her very first daisy chain and she'd helped her father make me a special piece of armour specially fitted for my chest when I was eighteen. We shared so many memories, good and bad, and Merlin's idiocy had ended that.

When I finally emerged from what can only be described as moping, though for a good reason, it was to find Merlin and Gaius poring over a thick book, looking up a reference. I couldn't help but notice Merlin was pink around the ears, like he was embarrassed and that Gaius was breathing heavily. Merlin looked up when he heard me coming and quailed under my death-glare, which I had down to perfection, useful for threatening stubborn knights, my usual patients.

"Anna, just the person." Gaius distracted me from my death-glaring and I frowned. "There's an Avanc in the underground reservoir and it's polluting the water. According to this book, it's formed from earth and water and brought to life with magic. Unfortunately, there're no details on how to destroy it and you're much better versed in elemental-related magic than I am."

Intriguing. I ran all the puzzle pieces over in my mind, slotting them together in various ways and recalling different pieces of random druid lore to mind as I did. The answer, when I chanced upon it, was so obvious in hindsight I was tempted to smack myself on the forehead. In fact, I did.

"The Avanc is made from earth and water, right?" Gaius nodded once, curious to see where I was going with this. "Well, there's an old druid law: if something is made from one thing, then it can be unmade with the opposite. In this case, the opposite of earth and water would be fire and air. So basically, all we have to do is set fire to the damn thing. And before you ask, Merlin, yes it really is that simple."

"Makes a change," he muttered and we shared a grimace, despite my anger towards him at the present moment. "New question: how do we get Arthur and/or Uther to believe it? They'll just assume Gwen conjured the Avanc."

"I think we'd worked that one out for ourselves, thanks," I shot back, replacing the grimace with my death-glare. "There has to be some way of proving it... Wait, Gaius? Isn't an Avanc made inside a egg and released into the water?"

"Now that you mention it, yes, I'd heard that somewhere as well," he murmured, thinking it through. "If the egg is still in the reservoir, it could tell us who actually conjured the Avanc-"

"And prove Gwen innocent!" Merlin finished triumphantly, immediately becoming subdued when I sent him a sharp look. Not everyone was as happy at having to fight a dangerous monster that caused a plague just by sitting in the water and having to rely on finding proof that might not even exist. "Anna, meet me by the entrance to the reservoir in half an hour."

"What are you going to do in that half an hour?" I asked as he prepared to run headlong into the door.

"Persuade a prat to help us!" he shouted back over his shoulder as he ran down the stairs. I assumed said prat was Arthur and went to grab my armour piece and my narrow sword, also made by Gwen and her father, coincidentally.

"Wait a moment, Anna." Gaius called me back just as I was about to follow Merlin out. "You don't look very well. Are you sure you're not coming down with something?" Gods, I hoped not.

"Gaius, do you think the check-up could wait until after the Avanc is dead and there's no chance of anyone else getting sick?" I pleaded. It's not like I don't care about my health, trust me I do, but there were more peoples' lives at risk than just my own and every minute that thing stayed alive was more time people had to catch this thing. He sighed, clearly not happy about it, but waging war against my sense of justice would do about as much good as waging war against Sir Leon's, so he let me go.

"Merlin, why is she here?" was the first thing Arthur said as he and Merlin, and Morgana for some weird reason, came down to the entrance. I just sent him a don't-be-a-cocky-bastard-I-have-a-sword sort of smile and stood beside Merlin as he unlocked the door. Immediately, I wished I'd put my hair up: looking epic swinging a flaming torch was all well and good but I'd look like a complete idiot if I managed to set fire to my hair. Considering it was hanging loose halfway down my back and had a tendency to fly every which way when I was fighting, I figured the two things wouldn't exist nicely.

Damn.

I'd never been down into the underground reservoir that conveniently fed most of Camelot but I could immediately tell something was wrong. Underground air does not smell like rotting meat and all four of us almost gagged. I noticed Morgana in particular didn't look very impressed or very brave in her posh silk dress and fancy forehead decorative chain thing. I could also hear heels clicking on the floor under the hem of that dress. Completely impractical for fighting any sort of monster.

Arthur took the lead while Merlin fell back as a sort of rearguard. They both had torches, so I felt it was safe enough to walk beside Arthur, both of holding our swords out in front of us. Pointless really because the first time the Avanc attacked, it came from behind.

Morgana screamed, very loudly I might add, and stumbled to one side and Merlin just about managed to avoid having his face scratched off. The Avanc was about as tall as Arthur, with a hunched over back, absurdly long arms, mottled hide and very long claws. It looked blind and slow-moving but was actually surprisingly stealthy. It had also vanished.

I heard Arthur mutter a few choice words from what was now behind me and when I looked around I realised both Morgana and Merlin had vanished, making me echo Arthur's choice words. He sent me the sort of grudgingly appreciative look he normally reserved for me when he got roughed up by the older knights in training. He was amused by the fact I could cuss so fluently. Clearly he spent too much time around stuck-up, delicate ladies to know that there are a lot of women out there who are as easily just as tough as any man.

I proved that in the next second by knocking Arthur out of the clawing line and slicing the Avanc's left hand – or perhaps paw – off. I knew I had a serious cleaning job on my hands later because my precious armour piece was now covered in magical monster blood and those kinds of stains were so difficult to remove, even with magic. I couldn't really think of that now because the Avanc whose hand I'd just lopped off was charging at me, knocking me clean off my feet and into the reservoir, giving itself a long cut a good four inches deep in the process.

I was thankful Uther had once tried to drown me: it had given me a perfect motivation to learn to swim. I could hold my breath for over three minutes and keep my eyes open for a good thirty seconds, longer than most people can bear. The water itself was brown and silted, so dirty I wondered how we hadn't noticed it was the cause.

So it came as a bit of a surprise when I noticed something white.

Without thinking, I reached out and scooped it up, feeling the brick bottom of the reservoir and kicked off. I broke the surface of the water just as the Avanc caught fire. I was amazed Arthur didn't realise magic was involved: he was a good three metres from the Avanc and somehow his metre-long torch managed to set it on fire. It's death-scream was awful, enough to make me wish I had no hearing. It shrivelled like dried mud and crumbled where it had reared.

"What did I miss?" I asked jovially, climbing out of the reservoir with diseased water dripping from my clothes. Happily, the water had washed off the magical monster blood before it could solidify and stain the armour. Now I just had to make sure the plating didn't rust.

"Well, the Avanc's dead, in case you hadn't noticed," Merlin told me, brightly but wary of my temper. I picked up my sword from where I'd dropped it before falling in the water and, after washing the blade off, rapped Merlin on the side of the head with the leather-bound handle.

"That's my job," Arthur muttered, although I could tell he was very happy he'd managed to kill the monster causing his people so much suffering. That was a quality that had surprised me, considering how he treated servants: he was a rude, arrogant, stuck up jerk but he genuinely loved the people he served and he would happily lay down everything in his life, and his life too, for their wellbeing. I was glad it was there though because it gave him the chance to change my opinion of him. "What's that?" he asked me suddenly, pointing at the shard of white I'd picked up at the bottom of the reservoir.

I looked down at it properly for the first time. I'd been right then, it was an eggshell piece, a rough half a little bit bigger than my clenched fist, so it was bigger than pretty much every bird egg, if not all of them. But it was the multitude of small blue marks that patterned the surface that made me smile.

"Proof that my best friend is innocent."

* * *

"Tell me that again, Gaius." I was stood in the throne room at the end of the council table with Gaius and Uther, now very much dry. Gwen had been released half an hour ago and had immediately fallen into her father's arms, weak with relief. Leon had been there in the background as well but the recent stress and the weakened immune system, which had affected everyone who'd had a drink in the last four days, had prompted Gwen to order him back to bed. He'd stubbornly told her that she wasn't a healer but three fellow knights had basically swept him off his feet and carried him back to his quarters. I'd quickly checked on him before this meeting and found him dozing in the window seat with a book on his chest. I'd left him to his nap and rushed here, where Uther was now demanding clarification of what I thought was something very obvious.

"This is the mark of Nimueh, Sire. She is the one who conjured the Avanc and released the plague into Camelot," Gaius replied slowly. Uther looked down, absorbing the news, then slowly raised his head to stare at me.

"In that case, God help us all." Yes. God help us all indeed.

**Yeah, I don't actually know what Gwen's mum is called, so I made it up! Which is fair enough because she was never named. Happy reading and reviews please!**

**jack-damian**


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